How to quit smoking ‘cold turkey’

Ok enough fun… You already know that smoking is bad, it causes cancer, brain tumors, heart problems, and the list goes on. And to counter this, you may know some old folks nearly 100 years old that smoke 3 packs a day. If you continue smoking do you know what is going to happen to you? Nobody knows, but one thing certain, when you quit smoking, your body feels better.

A very addicting drug
Smoking tobacco is thought to be one of the most difficult drugs to quit. The misconception here is that nicotine is your enemy. In fact, you and nicotine are the enemies because of the habits you have formed together. Smoking gives you a reason to talk to others during smoke breaks and to catch up on gossip or pointless information. Smoking gives you a reason to take a stress break and clear your mind for a moment. Smoking is also a great companion to alcoholic beverages and becomes required with drinks. It is easy to associate smoking with events that you repeat over and over. This makes it seem more difficult to quit smoking, as if you will need to quit these events as well. The truth is, you should avoid these events when quitting smoking and after some time, you can enjoy them again without a cigarette.

Are you ready to quit?
The most important step to quit smoking (using any method) is to be ready to quit. Being ready to quit means that you are constantly thinking about quitting day after day and you may have tried to quit several times already. Some good indications of being ready to quit are:

You are asking yourself why you smoke.

You are constantly thinking about quitting.

You are unhappy by the amount that you smoke.

Cold turkey and gravy
Once you are ready to quit smoking, the cold turkey method is basic and free. Stop smoking! Don’t try and challenge yourself by keeping a pack nearby. This is an indication that you are not serious about quitting. If you hate to bum cigarettes from others, and you would rather keep a pack nearby just in case, then use the hatred of bumming smokes to your advantage. Keep the packs of smokes at the store, not on you.

Don’t be a quitter at quitting
Your cold turkey challenge is to see how many days you can make it without a smoke. Pick a day of the week when your stress and social events are not going to distract you. This is day one. If you cannot make it to the end of day one, this is ok, you are going to try again. Go for as many days as possible without a smoke and if you start back up again, fine, simply repeat this process. Never quit at quitting. The more times that you attempt to quit, the stronger your willpower will become. Each time you quit, you are momentarily cleaning your body and breaking down its dependencies.

Three days of hell
When you quit the first three days are hell. Each time you feel the urge to smoke, you must distract your mind to make the urge go away. Get up, take a walk, change your surroundings for a moment. Tell yourself over and over that you are no longer a smoker and that you are freeing yourself from this prison. This is going to hurt, but remember pain is weakness leaving the body.

Day four, still hell
Whoever said that after three days quitting becomes easy… should be shot. Day four is only slightly easier than day three. The only advantage that day four has over day three is that it’s been four days of you not smoking. This is starting to sink in, smoking is history and you are a non smoker.

Week one, still need a smoke
This urge does go on. It will be less frequent as the first three days, but you have to keep going. But let’s be honest. At this point, you may have bummed a smoke maybe two or three. If you do this, be sure to smoke a brand that you hate. Your body will thank you for the temporary torture relief, but you cannot return to this habit. You will notice that smoking is not that great and the taste is bad.

Week two, still think about it
And you will think about smoking for a while. But it keeps getting less and less.

Week three, getting better
You are really at the point of no return. Having a smoke now would be tragic. One won’t kill you, it will just make you really mad at yourself.

Week four, smoke no more
This is when you really feel better. Your urges to smoke are so few and so weak that you know you achieved your goal. Your smoker friends are asking you how you quit smoking. You can tell them how, while you are breathing their second hand smoke without needing to light one up.

Extra help with the slice of cold turkey
To quit cold turkey is not easy at all. Most people would rather use the patch or gum. These items are very expensive and are no guarantee. If you think you need help with the cold turkey method, the best advice is start your cold turkey battle when you are sick. Having any kind of bad cold or flu is the best time to stop smoking cold turkey. Use this to your advantage because you most likely do not want to smoke anyway (but some people do).